Reignition
by Den3424
Summary: A realistic look at the social upheaval combined with the teen angst surrounding the return of drift culture to Japan if it happened in 2020. A continuation of the Initial D series.
1. Flames

_..._

Chapter 1: Flames

_..._

...

In the province of Gunma, Seiichi Fujiwara was having a very nice day. He put on his headphones as he mopped up the water released from the tofu frying machines in his dad's shop.

His orange-ish brown hair flicked around as he danced, singing along terribly to the lyrics as he worked. "Awoooo! 5-6-7-0-9! Awoooooo! 5-6-7-0-9!"

Knowing the lyrics perfectly, Seiichi's mop swung about mopping up all the water perfectly, practically swinging in his sandals as he cleaned.

"Seiichi! Seiichi!" Takumi called from the front desk.

Unable to hear his father, Seiichi kept singing.

"Foolish boy," Takumi muttered under his breath and stormed to the tofu frying area, tapping Seiichi on the shoulder.

Seiichi turned around when Takumi tapped him on the shoulder, making his son take off his headphones. "Huh? Oh hey dad, what is it?"

"I told you to have a new batch of tofu in five minutes ago. We got customers let's go."

"I'm not done mopping, just give me a minute." Seiichi pleaded.

Takumi put his hands on his hips over his smock. "Now Seiichi."

"Ok dad, I got it." he put his mop by the wrapped blue boxes of tofu material and started setting the machines again. Watching them bubble, the teenager had to admit that if it wasn't for 80s classics his mother Mika lent him along with her Walkman, working for his father would be awful.

The clock ran by as he seemed to blur with the passage of time, always making sure the tofu was made on time for his father.

Takumi pressed a cigarette to his ashtray in the kitchen table, seeing Seiichi come downstairs from his room. "I need you to take the tofu up to the hotels tonight by the lake again. Take the AE86 ok?"

"Why can't I just take the GT86?" Seiichi rubbed the back of his head. "It's way faster on the uphill."

He grunted in surprise when without even looking at him Takumi pulled on his ear like Bunta used to do him when he talked back. "Don't question it all right? That car has been running that route since before you were born, she can handle it believe me."

After having his ear released, Seiichi muttered. "Sure thing dad."

...

_'Tommy-kun! Tommy-kun, promise me we'll get married one day!'_

Thomas Friedland sighed at the memory of a girl he met on a playground when he was eight. Somehow, the memory stuck to him. And he could never remember who she was or if he even wanted to meet her one day.

He looked upwards over the city of Saitama from the rooftop of his high school. Somehow, somewhere, he knew she or what she meant to him, would still be somewhere.

Thomas gripped the metal bar of the rooftop behind the chain link. "It doesn't matter if it kills me, I'll find out what you meant to me. If it's love or an understanding of life. I will."

"Jeez Tom, you gotta lighten up once in a while." The refreshing sound of English brightened up Thomas' ears when his best friend walked out onto the rooftop. Thomas turned around to see a very masculine and charming American boy of eighteen with sandy brown hair stroll onto the rooftop, Daniel McMillian.

Danny whistled. "Wow, you met that girl what, ten years ago, and you're still thinking about her?"

Thomas turned back around to brood over Saitama. "Dan, I'm telling you, whether it's to find if I really belong or something, I gotta find her."

Danny made a 'Y' with his hand and rubbed his chin, standing next to Thomas on the rooftop guardrail. "Listen bud, if she really was that special you would've found her already. And I've been with a lot of girls, not one of them sticks with me. You know why, they all are into me for the same reason."

Danny did a girlish impression. "Oh my, a foreigner, he's so exotic and handsome and athletic, he plays soccer so well! I wonder if he'll take me out on a date tee-hee-hee!" Danny laughed dramatically behind his hand as Thomas rolled his eyes.

"For the love of god can you stop bragging about-"

"Love? Believe me man, the best taste of life is from the tip of a woman's te-"

"I think we're done talking for today." Thomas looked at his watch.

Danny groaned. "Ugh! It's senior year man! How much would I have to pay you to get you to actually enjoy your life for once and date?"

Thomas blinked. "I'll find the right girl when I do."

"Exactly. How are you supposed to know if she's the right girl if you don't try to get to know her?" asked Danny. Thomas didn't respond as Danny sighed. "Well at least don't stay up here all by yourself for lunch. Try to come down and talk to everyone else, you're bumming everyone out."

"Fine." Thomas pushed off the guardrail with his foot.

The only two Americans in all of Saitama High started walking to their homeroom together. "Don't you honestly feel like you're missing something from your life? Like there's a piece that isn't there?" mused Thomas.

"Yeah." Danny smiled. "It's more-"

"Women more time. Why did I even ask?" Thomas shook his head.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Why do I even try to get your head out of the clouds? You're so in your own world any way that everything yet nothing bothers you."

Thomas sighed. "Sorry man, it's just my dad's sending me up to a Medical Conference over in Gunma. I really don't want to drive all the way over there, heck, I don't even think I want to be a doctor."

Danny smiled before switching back to Japanese. "Well enjoy these last few years before med school!"

Thomas entered his homeroom with Asuo, Hiro Takahashi, and his sister Itsuha already waiting for them at the desks in the back corner of the class.

"Hey, Thomas." Itsuha smiled at him. "Did you have a nice brood?"

Before Thomas could answer, Danny responded for him. "He's the king of brooding, might as well have a nice brood to warm up for a better one."

Hiro chuckled. "It's nice to see you want to come talk to us." the blonde said. "What do you have planned for tonight? Senna said she'd take us all ice skating."

"As painful as that sounds." Thomas blanked. "I'm gonna have to pass. I have a Medical School preliminary presentation to get to over by Numata."

"Aw, how dare you want to spend time with your friends?" Itsuha pouted tauntingly while Asuo ate his rice silently.

Danny rubbed his eye. "Say Hinata, did Takibana-chan mention she wanted to go out to get coffee with you?"

Hiro laughed and nudged Danny in the hip with his elbow as Asuo awkwardly chewed his rice. Itsuha smirked. "Yeah Asuo, are you going to date Mari-chan or not?"

"Give the poor guy a break you're killing him!" Hiro laughed seeing him sweat, his father's cheer-ish demeanor around his good friends bubbling that matched his yellow hair he also inherited.

Tired of his friend's shenanigans, Thomas took his seat before class started and proceeded to brood for the rest of the day, all in doom and gloom over the medical conference ahead.

...


	2. Ignition

...

Chapter Two: Ignition

...

"And so as you can see here, exceeding in the preliminary portion of the exam requires..."

Asuo scribbled down his notes next to Thomas in the Medical conference room who was practically dying of boredom in his seat. He was praying for something interesting to happen to him when finally, it did.

Someone passed a note to him which came from a crumpled up piece of paper than landed on his notebook. Thomas uncrumpled it as he was beyond bored with the lecture and turned it around to read it.

**This is from the guy sitting behind you with the blue jacket. That your FC sitting outside with the crystal white paint job? Think it's my dad's. I could've asked you after the lecture but I already know half this stuff anyway.**

Thomas finished reading the note and scribbled down below it.

**Yeah it's mine. My dad's friend gave it to me for my 18th birthday. Why do you ask?**

Thomas turned behind him to see a stern-looking black-haired young man with cold blue eyes taking notes like the rest of the conference of medical school hopefuls. He looked up at Thomas with a nod before Thomas handed him the note.

A few seconds later and Thomas uncrumpled the next piece of paper.

**My name's Takahashi Satoru. My father gave you that car. Just bored of the lecture is all. Feel like chatting for a second later?**

Satoru read the note Thomas passed back to him without even looking at him.

**Sure.**

...

Asuo and Thomas walked outside the Lecture Hall seeing Satoru leaning on a lampost. "Afternoon." Thomas mumbled.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." Satoru brushed off lint from his blue jacket.

Thomas gestured to his silent friend. "This is my good friend Hinata Asuo. I'm Thomas Friedland."

"Charmed." Satoru calmly shook Thomas' and Asuo's hands. He flicked his nose towards the white Mazda FC3S that was positively glittering parked nearby. "Yours huh?"

"Yup, had it for a few months," Thomas said. "I like it all right."

"I wanted a 2020 NSX, but my dad wouldn't let me race, said it was against the law, and too dangerous nowadays with how powerful cars get." Satoru shrugged.

Thomas raised an eyebrow as Asuo listened quietly as always. "You're into racing?"

"Big time." Satoru sighed. "Unfortunately no one's into it nowadays, been banned for a long time here in Gunma. My dad said he was part of the racing scene on the local mountain tracks."

Thomas pressed his lips together tightly. "Really? Never would've guessed that."

"What do you two have planned for tonight?" Satoru withdrew a pack of gum to chew on, not even offering some to Asuo or Thomas.

Thomas rubbed his chin. "Not much. Just was gonna drive Asuo to his aunt's to stay the night there, and then I have to drive back home to downtown Saitama to catch my friend's soccer match."

"You're from Saitama? Tell you what, don't take the main road, it's much too packed at this hour." Satoru checked his phone for the time. "Take the pass by the lake down towards the Stone Steps. From there it's smooth sailing avoiding the traffic on the highway."

"Thanks but I don't really know these roads that well. I'm not in Gunma much." Thomas admitted.

"Okay, your time, your loss." Satoru put his phone away. "Your dad make you go to this stupid thing too?"

"Mhm." Thomas nodded. "Except Asuo here, I don't know why he's doing it, his dad's a surgeon but he's letting him do what he wants."

"Yeah so why are you doing it?" Satoru asked the light brown haired teen.

Asuo shrugged.

"Hm." Satoru had a look on his face that showed he had no reason to ask Asuo anything else. He pushed off the lampost with his foot. "Well, it was nice talking to you guys, but I have to be home see ya."

"Have a good night." Thomas said as Satoru waved them both good-bye. "Tch!" Thomas scoffed as Satoru walked away. "What was that guy's deal? Said he wanted to chat but then doesn't even want to keep in touch? I could use an actual study partner when I get to med."

Asuo gave him an expressive look which was rare for him.

"Oh, oh man I didn't mean it like that." Thomas frowned.

As Thomas frantically tried to apologize, Satoru opened the driver's door to his BMW looking at the American. _'Why am I jealous that he got the FC instead of me? I don't even know him at all or his father but I still feel jealous of him for having it.'_

Shaking his head, the Takahashi drove away.

Thomas drove along the well-lit streets of downtown Shibukawa towards the lake. "God," Thomas scoffed again. "That was random."

Asuo glanced at the FCs side view mirror for a moment and then at the road ahead blankly.

"Come on man, it's been two weeks and you still won't talk to me, which is weird even for you. What's going on?"

Asuo didn't respond again.

Thomas groaned loudly. "He raised a good question. Why did you come out here instead of staying back home with Hiro at the ice rink? I mean, med school's optional for you man."

Asuo clenched his jaw, swallowing his words.

"You don't have any pressure at all to sign up for it. Why take on the stress? I mean, you have the grades for it, but still."

Asuo turned to Thomas slowly. "I have more pressure than anyone else on me," he said.

"What do you mean?" Thomas had never paid closer attention to what his friend said until now.

Asuo stayed silent again for a moment before muttering. "Mariko said the only way her father would let her date me would be if I became a surgeon like her."

Thomas took a second to register this. "A-Are you serious?"

Asuo nodded.

"Wow." Thomas shook his head. "That is just, wow."

"I know." Asuo sighed and stayed silent again.

Thomas refused to give his opinion as he knew it wasn't his place, eventually dropping off Asuo without so much as a word.

Thomas took a call from Hiro as he turned towards the mountain pass by Lake Haruna. "Moshi-moshi. You're on speakerphone."

"Hey Thomas, how was the med conference?"

"Shitty." he sighed as he kept driving towards the Togue. "God it was such a waste of time I can't believe Dad made me do it. How's Danny doing on the ice?"

Hiro watched from the bleachers, seeing Senna laugh very loudly as Danny kept crashing everywhere and complaining vocally that he didn't want to get injured for the upcoming soccer game. "Pretty badly. Luckily there's no one out here this late besides us, and Danny's match starts in like a half hour so we got time."

"Dang dude, what time is it?" asked Thomas.

"Mm." The blonde Takahashi sipped from his soda can and read his phone's time. "It's only 10 o'clock. Say man, what advice do you have for me about Atara-chan?" the hotheaded teen watched the blonde beauty twirl around the ice perfectly making Danny wave a hand as she taunted him. "You two get along well."

"U-Uh, we do?" Thomas asked slowly.

Hiro chuckled over the phone and put his soda can down. "No I'm just kidding, if I need advice about girls I'll talk to Dan."

Thomas rolled his eyes. _'Classic Hiro.'_

Thomas saw the exits leading from Shibukawa towards the mountain road. "Okay I gotta go in a second man, I always pay attention when I'm driving downhill. Just one thing, I spoke to a guy over here in Gunma named Takahashi Satoru? He related to you?"

"Satoru? Yeah, he's my cousin, total stick in the mud, really weird too." Hiro snickered. "Why, was he at the conference too with you and Asuo?"

"Huh, y-yeah he was. Just the name stuck with me and I just remembered you two share the same last name. Anyway, gotta go man." Thomas said.

"See ya at the match man." Hiro hung up and stood up off the bleachers to join his friends on the ice rink.

Thomas yawned. "Wow, I'm tired."

...

Another teen was also out very late. Seiichi tipped his cap as he passed his tofu delivery to the couple inside their motel room. "Thank you for your business!"

The man smiled back and held a hand out to refuse his change from Seiichi. Seiichi walked back towards his car and hopped in, keying the ignition to the AE86 as the pop up headlights flipped up.

Seiichi started backing out while looking over his shoulder. He changed gears to drive towards back down the mountain towards his home over the tofu shop. Seiichi pressed the gas before slowing down to move around the turn as he began going down the mountain pass.

Thomas drove down the mountain slowly before sluggishly making a turn around a hairpin. When he did so he saw Seiichi's AE86 at the end of the straight and thought.

_'Huh, it's a hatchback, looks about as old as this car. It's probably going to be going pretty slow, I should pass it.'_

Thomas signaled and flashed his headlights to signal to Seiichi that he wanted to pass him.

Seiichi looked in his rearview mirror to see this as the AE86's bell chirped. "Someone else is on the road. Why're they signaling to me?" the Fujiwara mumbled.

Thomas pressed the FC's gas, boosting up the rotary engine as it spooled with power.

Seiichi saw Thomas move to the left, trying to pass him. Whether it was his teenage competitiveness or lack of inhibition, Seiichi pressed the gas too and moved to the left to block Thomas from passing him.

"What did I just do?" Seiichi asked himself in shock seeing Thomas' headlights glow in his rearview mirror.

Thomas felt anger boil. "D-Did he just block me?" Just as instinctively as Seiichi, Thomas changed gears. "Okay buddy, I have my best friend's soccer match to get to."

Seiichi tightened his grip on his steering wheel as both cars accelerated down the hill. "Okay man, I have no idea what we're doing here but let's go." he triggered his own headlights and Thomas' eyes widened.

They both accelerated and sped down the straight together. The incoming left hairpin approached and both boys took a deep breath together. Their hands moved on their own, moving to their gear sticks, shifting after they braked, backing up together, and swinging the back of their cars around the turn.

Thomas gasped after the car swung around after coming out of the tight turn, nearly shaking in his street. "The hell was that?"

Seiichi started to sweat, his heart pounding out of his chest as the entire way down Thomas started looking for space to pass, Seiichi blocking him the whole way down.

Thomas stood up straighter in his seat and yelled. "Even if I die, I have to pass this car!"

_'This is what I was missing from my life! The thrill of the mountain pass!'_

Seiichi entered the turn first, Thomas hot on his tail as the two teens practiced the same move they executed ten seconds prior, slipping around the right curve with the front of their cars nearly kissing the guardrail.

There was an immediate left turn afterwards, the two cars, FC3S and AE86 painting the night's sky red as they made their tires screech through the drift.

Leaves flew by as both cars zoomed down the pass together. Both cars swung from side to side as Thomas and Seiichi made their dance, coming millimeters from death as they flew around corners drifting, their hearts pounding and their sweat glistening as they drifted.

Seiichi shifted gears coming out of the turn, getting the rhythm of the race as he upshifted and followed Thomas' acceleration. Suddenly, Thomas saw it, in a certain part of his mind, lines formed and he executed the perfect plan of attack.

There was an upcoming right-hand turn which Thomas decided to move. Having no idea what he was doing but trying all the same, Thomas shifted twice and pressed the gas before braking suddenly as he drifted with Seiichi.

The white FC pressed right up next to Seiichi's Panda Trueno as they twin drifted together, slipping together through the drift side to side before the FC found space on the inside and Thomas accelerated before Seiichi could react, both cars next to each other as they flew down the long straight away.

Both headlights from the cars shone on a couple passionately kissing at the bottom of the straightaway behind the guardrail on their car.

"Shinichi?" the girl looked to her boyfriend who pulled away from her feeling lights on his face.

"The hell?" he asked seeing Thomas and Seiichi drive down the straight. "A-Are they racing?" he pulled his phone out of his pocket as quickly as he could and began recording much to his and his girlfriend's surprise.

Not knowing they were being recorded, Thomas and Seiichi gassed down the long part of the straight away.

"Come oooonn!" Thomas said losing all control as he pushed his FC past its limits.

The RPMs on his car flicked upwards into 8000s range, the rotary engine in his hood whirring so loudly the whole mountain heard it as it hummed in unison with Seiichi's old A-block.

Seiichi and Thomas felt their tongues go numb in unison as they slipped into another drift as the FC attacked from the outside both cars going faster than they had ever driven downhill.

Adrenaline pumped through their veins as their blood surged like a rushing river. Thomas and Seiichi could think of nothing else but passing each other as they shifted, braked, and counter steered with nothing but instincts into the critical turn.

Their tires screeched together in harmony, echoing throughout the mountain.

The couple watching the two drift through the turn held their breath as both Thomas and Seiichi kept sweating and held their eyes lasered in on the space they needed to occupy to pass. Their cars held, zeroing in on the jump to pass each other before suddenly, Seiichi's car fishtailed as his front tire slipped grip.

Thomas zoomed ahead as it was all caught on camera that he was able to pass Seiichi's 86. The FC flew off into the night towards Saitama as Seiichi watched it run off into a right-hand hairpin turn ahead of him. There, Seiichi finally saw what was this sudden car that raced him.

A crystal white FC that shone whiter than a full moon.

And there in that moment, in that S-hairpin turn as the FC tore up the asphalt, Seiichi's mind took a mental image of the car that had defeated him in beginning its drift.

Seiichi stopped his car and got out, leaning on the right side of his car seeing the headlights of the FC act as little lamps that got dimmer the farther away it got. He sighed and gave a smile. "One day, one day."

He was all sunshine and rainbows until before he got back in his car there was a stupified couple and Seiichi realized they had recorded the entire event seeing the boy's phone. "Aw shit...Dad's gonna kick my ass," he said when realized his mistake.

...

...


	3. Mako's Choice

Chapter 3: Mako's Choice

...

In the midday sun, Jia Lin waved to his mother who still had packing boxes at her side when she waved back to her son. "Don't be gone too long Jia!"

"Okay ma!" the 18-year-old said back in Mandarin before mounting his bicycle and riding off towards downtown Takasaki from his new home.

It only took the teen ten minutes before he reached the seedier part of town where an old woman was sweeping up dust outside her convenience store. "H-Hello ma'm." Jia said slowly in Japanese as he only learned it recently.

"Hello." the woman didn't look up.

"Hi, I'm looking for Aizima Takeshi? I heard he lives around here."

The woman looked at the newcomer to Japan sit on his bicycle. "The drunkard? Lives in the Motel across the street." the woman threw her nose towards it and returned to sweeping.

"Th-Thank you." Jia cleared his throat as he knew how awkward his Japanese sounded.

He rode the bicycle across the street when the light changed and made sure to keep his bike close to him considering the look the area gave him. There were a few abandoned cars, many homeless and other street vagrants.

The man at the motel office was finishing his cigarette when Jia peeked his head in the door clutching onto his bicycle.

"A-Aizima? Takeshi?"

"Huh?" the man looked up from his phone.

"Aizima Takeshi," Jia said clearer.

The man checked the log book of the motel. "Room Four-O-One, second floor."

"Thank you." Jia left the motel office and carried his bicycle with him up the stairs. He knocked on room 41's door and looked around, half expecting to be robbed or approached by a stranger.

No response.

Jia knocked again. "Hello? Aizima Takeshi?"

"Go away!" a ragged voice said.

"I-I need your help." Jia said.

"If you're anybody I owe money to you're gonna have to bust the door down and beat my ass for it." the voice said.

Jia sighed. "It's. It's about racing."

"Racing?" Jia heard footsteps on the other side of the door before being met with an ungodly smell when the door opened. A forty year old man who looked like he hadn't showered, shaved, or changed his clothes in weeks and reeked of liquor and cigarettes looked at Jia up an down. "What the hell do you know about racing?"

Jia coughed and waved in front of his face. "W-Wow, the hell is smell that?"

"Your Japanese sucks kid, but all right."

"I know, I'm a bit new." Jia struggled to enunciate. "Are you Aizima Takeshi?"

"In the flesh." the burly man scratched his rugged beard. "How'd you find me?"

"I read a newspaper column mentioning a review you wrote, and how you used to be a racer in the nineties. I told you. I need your help with racing." Takeshi ignored the boy as he spoke getting ready to close the door. "Please, I've been waiting for ages to learn how to drift in the mountains."

As Takeshi closed the door Jia spoke louder. "I'll do it anyway without your help and get hurt!"

"With what car? That bicycle of yours?" Takeshi walked away.

Jia started to get desperate as he started knocking on the door. "P-Please. Wh-What would it mean to you?"

Takeshi didn't answer.

Jia frowned. "I'll give you anything you need. I have money."

Takeshi practically sprinted to the door greeting Jia with his rancid smell again. "How much we talking?"

Jia realized his mistake. "I'll give you a place to stay. You can live in my garage at my mom's place."

Takeshi was honest looking back at his motel room. "Better than this dump." he looked back at Jia. "How old are ya?"

"18."

"Well kid, do you have a driver's license?"

Jia nodded and smiled. "Mhm, got it with my mom's car last week."

Takeshi sighed deeply and pulled his motel room keys out of his old trench coat pockets, stepping outside to lock his room. "Ok, I want to hear some things first." Jia took a step back as Takeshi took some cigarettes out of his pocket and began to smoke. "Why in god's name do you want to be a racer?"

"My dad was one. I always wanted to be one."

"Hm." Takeshi shrugged. "I honestly don't care as I need to get out of this part of town one way or another, but I was curious. The problem is drifting is very very illegal nowadays, every city council has sentences up to three years for breaking speed limits on public roads in street competitions."

Jia nodded as Takeshi took a drag from his cig. "Luckily for you, training in secret is gonna be easy. Unluckily, competing secretly is next to impossible because everyone's got a cell phone. Also, most importantly, if we're gonna get a decent car for you, it's gonna be pretty expensive."

"I have money." said Jia.

Takeshi chuckled. "Probably not enough." he took another hit from his cigarette. "I haven't talked to my old friend Hamasato in about twenty or so years. He's the only one who works on cars and might have one laying around. And I don't think he'll be willing to just give his away."

Jia took his cell phone out of his pocket and offered it to Takeshi.

Takeshi dialed a car shop in downtown Tokyo which picked up immediately. "Hamasato Auto-Body how can I help you?" a young man asked.

"Yeah hi, can I speak to Kaito?"

"Uh." the man said. "Mr. Hamasato is busy right now, you can reach him later at 5-"

"No, no, no, I'm an old friend, he's gonna wanna talk to me." Takeshi insisted.

One of Kaito's employees stood up and yelled waving the landline in the air. "It's for you!"

"What?" A middle-aged mechanic stood up and stopped working on his car, taking off his visor. "What?"

"It's a call for you, says it's an old friend."

Kaito walked to the front desk of his shop and took the phone. "Moshi moshi Kaito speaking."

"Hey Kaito, this is Takeshi."

"Hey Takeshi! It's been a while!" Kaito leaned on the desk and nodded to his employee to go work on something.

"Hey, Kaito it's been a hot minute yeah." Jia looked at him as he shrugged and took another drag. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Listen I need a favor, you still have that BNR34 laying around that you used back in our Blue Jets days?"

Kaito chuckled. "Of course I do man, why?"

"I need it. A kid showed up at my door, saying he wants to be a racer."

"Hm, Takasaki is a bit of a drive for me. And I don't know you or this kid." Kaito said.

Takeshi tutted. "Come on! I've known you for years!"

"Yeah, I do know you, but I haven't caught up with you ever and you just called me out of the blue after twenty years asking for a car. Drive down here to my shop and let me just talk to you guys."

"Drive to Tokyo?" Jia's eyes widened as much as Takeshi's. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

"Okay then, thanks." Kaito hung up.

"But wait I-" Takeshi looked at Jia's phone. "Hung up on me."

Jia shrugged as Takeshi sighed. "What'd he say?"

"That we gotta go see him in person. Can't say I blame him."

"We gotta go to Tokyo?" Jia asked.

"I know."

Jia laughed a bit. "But what if we go and he doesn't give it to us?"

"That's what I'm thinking too. But I don't have the cash for a decent ride, do you?"

Jia shook his head. "Thought I did." he mumbled

Takeshi finished his cigarette and flicked it off the motel balcony outside his room. "Okay, I'm gonna go return my keys, talk to your mom and see if she lets you go to Tokyo with me."

Jia chuckled. "Swee-et. So I know you were a racer from back in the day from a newspaper article. Tell me all about your racing days."

...

Thomas didn't even bother to go the soccer match he said he'd go to, and instead drove straight home, and ran up to his bedroom past his baby sister Maya who was sleeping in her crib.

Thomas booted up his computer and played vaporwave, the ethereal music sharpening his senses to what he was about to do next.

Thomas started searching for every bit of information online about drifting, cars, and competitive street racing. He also downloaded programs on inertia and physical dynamics and how objects move in regards to its inertia.

Thomas's bedroom seemed to speed up as he drew diagrams on information collected years ago on his FC, his bedroom walls becoming filled with maps of mountains courses and turning radii for every corner imaginable, every last detail filled in his head.

The entire map of Mount Sadamine's drift course became outlined with tons of sticky notes and other bits of Thomas' observations.

Thomas looked exactly like his 'uncle' Ryosuke as he trained and overlooked his computer screen, preparing his drift by adding mathematics and statistics to every single aspect of his racing.

Thomas' mind seemed to contract and expand with knowledge as he gained clarity over his recent encounter in a drifting match as it combined with his massive knowledge of science. He nodded along to the music, tapping his pencil on his chin as he overlooked his notes on every part of a drift and a mountain corner.

Miniature versions of Thomas drifting in his mind played every time Thomas' sharp eyes focused on a corner or part of a mountain where the driver is obligated to drift on to turn.

He ignored his phone being blown up by his friends wondering where he was.

Eventually, Thomas fell asleep after he ended up collecting all the materials he needed to understand everything about drift culture and drifting from a purely technical standpoint, passed out in his desk chair at 11:04 PM with his Physics textbook in his lap.

...

Not that far from Thomas' bedroom in Saitama, two girls were watching the news in one of their bedrooms.

One was dark-haired, pale, very pretty and slim. The other one was equally attractive but had lighter brown hair and was far more busty.

The paler girl looked to the TV screen in her room, ignoring her friend for a moment. "What is it Kanna?"

She reached for the remote and turned up the news broadcast, the anchor adjusting his glasses as he cleared his throat. "A video posted merely an hour ago that has gone viral has caught the attention of local authorities."

A clip of Thomas and Seiichi drifting together using their FC and AE86 respectively played on screen as the anchor spoke. "The police are already investigating this incident. While street racing has been illegal for years and continues to be so, and racing culture has been dormant since the 90s, this video seems to have made waves in the online community due to both cars in question having already raced at this same location near Maebashi before."

Kanna looked to her friend. "Did I hear that right Ayo-chan?"

"Sh," the girl muttered.

"Both cars have already been identified as being part of the currently inactive Team, 'Project D.' " The anchor read off his sheets of notepaper. "A team run by local Hospital owner Takahashi Ryosuke, a man who publicly renounced street racing as an institution ever since he formally took a seat on the Gunma Residential Medical board in 2003."

"Auntie Mako come look at this!" Kanna said.

A housewife stopped carrying a basket of laundry and entered her 'niece's' room. "What is it Kanna?"

"Look." She pointed to the screen as the video replayed itself, Thomas and Seiichi zooming past the screen.

After taking a second to process what was on screen, Mako placed her basket of laundry on the ground reaching for her phone in her pocket. "Honeyy!" Mako called downstairs.

Ryosuke walked up the stairs and appeared at the doorway as Mako tapped away on her phone. "Yes?" the doctor asked.

"Why is your nephew's car on screen?" Mako asked sternly.

Ayoko and Mako couldn't take their eyes off the TV, the light brown haired girl absolutely mesmerized by the way both cars swung around the turn together.

"Uh, I'll call David." Ryosuke avoided a potential discussion with his wife and left to call his fellow doctor.

Mako tapped her foot impatiently and slightly bothered by what was happening, feeling a strange yet familiar feeling grow in her as the two cars on-screen dueled like she had seen so many years before.

"Auntie? What's wrong?" Kanna asked.

Despite not being related to the woman in question and simply practically being sisters with the girl Mako considered to be an aunt too, Kanna had her question answered in kind.

"Nothing's wrong." Mako deadpanned.

"They look so cool..." Ayoko sighed as she passed a light brown lock behind her ear. "But those two cars seem too fast. Racing seems to be more of a boy's sport, I think I'm more for spectating."

Kanna looked equally disappointed in agreement as her 'aunt' grew wide-eyed.

Mako's emotions were already in limbo seeing her past on the screen, but now they felt like they got hit by a bullet train. Something stirred inside Mako, but whatever it was then, it snapped. "Grab your jackets girls, you're coming with me."

Satoru saw his mother walk past him as he studied on the kitchen counter. "What's going on ma?"

"Nothing, I'm going to take the girls out for a walk now," Mako said with Kanna and Ayoko in their windbreakers behind her.

Satoru looked at his watch. "It's almost midnight, what's going on?"

"Don't worry about it son, we'll be back." Mako left quickly.

Satoru closed his notebook on his laptop and scrolled through his old manga on street racing. After around five seconds of goofing off, he checked Reddit, instantly seeing what went viral.

"No way..." the boy said.

In downtown Tokyo, Takeshi led Jia from his mother's car towards the autobody shop where Kaito was already smoking outside of it.

"Nice to see you man, it's been too long." Kaito gripped his old friend's hand. "How ya been Takeshi?"

"Good good. This is the kid." Takeshi tilted his head towards Jia.

Kaito extended his hand. "Hamasato Kaito, you'll be happy you met me, this will be the finest car you'll ever lay your eyes on."

The dark-haired teen shook his hand. "Jia Lin, I just flew in from Kuala Lumpur."

Kaito led the two inside his shop. "All right come in." he drew his keys and unlocked the door as Jia looked around the gorgeous colorful skyline of Tokyo at night.

Jia gasped, nearly passing out from its look.

A glistening holo blue BNR34 sat with its headlights on in the back of Kaito's shop.

Kaito chuckled at Jia's reaction. "I know right? A real beauty, had to get rid of the license plate and get a new one since I almost got caught racing it."

Jia approached it slowly, in awe, his hand approaching the perfect paint job. His hand passed over his own reflection in the car's hood.

"You can feel it huh?" Kaito drew a packet of cigarettes.

Jia understood the car was special from the first touch. "Yes," he whispered.

Kaito lit his cigarette and took a drag. "You'd be right. This car has a twin R. A red one, currently owned by a rich doctor, Hinata Wakaru."

"Twin?" Jia looked back from the powerful beauty at his fingertips to the mechanic behind him.

"Identical in every way." Kaito nodded and scratched his stubble. "You see, I made the same modifications when I started racing to a similar car when I was tuning. Same balancing, same power sets, the only difference was the paint job really."

Kaito exhaled some smoke. "There was a driver named God Foot and another named Hojo Rin. Both understood the power of the Skyline. I managed to tune them all when I opened my autobody shop, believe me, do I know how to unlock the power of a Nissan."

Jia looked at him intently. "Can you train me how to use it?"

Kaito shook his head. "No I have too much business to attend to here in Tokyo, but he can." the two of them turned to Takeshi, who nodded.

Mako rolled up the garage door to reveal an indigo blue Sileighty that made both girls instantly explode with questions.

"There's something beautiful about Skylines," Kaito said as Jia started wondering why he couldn't take his eyes off his car. "I'm sure it's making you feel strange. Let me explain something Takeshi won't be able to when he's teaching you how to drift."

Mako ignored both girls overflowing with questions after she told them not to post anything about their 'aunt' being a racer, as Kaito's words continued.

"When entering a drift, the car has basically lost all point of contact with the ground and is sliding in a direction it shouldn't. It has placed all force on the front of the car where it is essentially gliding on."

Mako did a 180 and Ayoko and Kanna held onto their seats and shrieked in surprise when Mako accelerated.

"Everyone reacts differently to the thrill of a street race. Some racers could not be any calmer under pressure, completely disappointed in amateurs."

Ryosuke sighed as Thomas and Seiichi slid through Akina very slowly despite their natural talent and aptitude from drifting.

"Others make racing their life, treating their cars as a part of themselves."

Takumi bickered over the phone with the mayor of Shibukawa who was yelling at him for letting his AE86 get international attention over the span of a night and had to shoo off the police for arresting him because of Takumi's influence having a seat on the city council.

"Some balance the thrill and calm of a street race to an extreme, making themselves faster than all others."

A middle-aged doctor David Friedland slept soundly in his bed across the hall from his son who was passed out over diagrams of racing cars and drifting.

"But some, like Takeshi, take racing to the absolute extreme, using it to fuel every ounce of who they are."

Mako accelerated, her pupils dilating and her heart pounding and pumping adrenaline through her body as the girls next to her shrieked.

_'I have to show them. I have to show them women CAN drift!' _

Mako did the exact same drifts she did on Usui Pass over twenty years before as Kaito spoke to Jia.

"There's a good reason why racing is so illegal and frowned upon. First, it is extremely dangerous. Second, it can be used as a drug, a placebo for true meaning, especially among the meaningless."

Mako swung the back of the Sil80 loudly, her drift aligned so perfectly it made the same drift Thomas and Seiichi attempted to look pitiful by comparison.

"At the point of Drift Contact, which only the best racers can achieve, they can go no faster, they have achieved ultimate control and synthesis with their car, their mountain, their lives."

Mako's brown hair flicked as the girls were on the verge of passing out.

"With themselves."

Mako didn't smile, so focused on her drift that anything else except her turn was blocked out of her head, the Sil80 swinging back around to accelerate down Usui's hill.

"For those who truly have reached Drift Contact, they will have become Drift Masters. Out of those who are still alive, there are few, but I know them all by name."

Mako swung her car a centimeter from the guardrail, Ayoko and Kanna calming down slowly as they breathed through it seeing how Mako pretended everything was fine as she controlled the monstrous drift perfectly.

"The first is Takahashi Mako. While she is currently a married mother of one and has been out of the racing scene for twenty plus years, I still wouldn't challenge her on the downhill on my best day."

Mako's memories of the 90s played in her mind as the girls slowly became less frightened of how fast she was driving.

A yellow FD swung around the guardrail dueling with the AE86 on Akina.

"The second is Takahashi Keisuke. He became a pro, but in my opinion, overrated but still decent."

Takeshi shot Kaito a look who promptly shrugged.

A white FC shot around a corner passing a blue S14 during a race.

"The third is Takahashi Ryosuke. An absolute beast, third in my opinion to the best drift racers of all time."

A green Lan Evo and a panda AE86 peeled out of a turn out of a tunnel, accelerating through an S corner and drifting loudly together.

"David Friedland and Fujiwara Takumi. The two fastest of all time, if you ask me Friedland's better, but I am biased as we were on the same team and he was my leader. Everyone else says they're equally fast."

Jia rubbed his nose and crossed his arms as he sat on the hood of the BNR34. "But wait, what about you two, you've never been at this 'Drift Contact?' "

"It's really a stupid theory of mine." Kaito threw his cigarette down and put it out with his foot on the floor of his autobody shop. "But Takeshi and I have never been as fast as those guys, and neither has anyone else."

Kaito tossed his keys to the Skyline to Jia. "The question is, are you willing to race? Are you ready? There's no going back when you've gone down this road."

Jia stared at the keys in his palm, and then back at the BNR34. He was scared of how much power the car could have, but also knew what was building, he could tell there was something behind what Kaito was saying. Something locked inside Japan for years that was being ready to be unleashed once more.

"Yes." Jia rolled the keys into his fist and looked at Kaito. "But first I want to find this Hinata guy. I want to meet this car's twin to have a partner on the road."

Kaito smirked. "I'm so glad you mentioned that."


	4. The Domino Effect

Chapter Four: The Domino Effect

...

The door to the Takahashi household closed slowly, as Mako didn't want to awaken anyone within her home.

A light clicked as Mako and the younger women tried to slink up the stairwell, Ryosuke sipping his coffee at the kitchen table quietly as Mako turned like a deer caught in headlights. Ryosuke was more than observant enough to know what had happened considering recent events.

"H-Hi honey." Mako stuttered.

Ryosuke put down his cup calmly. "Hello Mako." his eyes moved equally calmly, observing his wife and their surrogate nieces. "It's quite late don't you think, mind explaining?"

"Is Satoru asleep?" Mako shifted her weight at the bottom of the stairs.

Ryosuke nodded at his wife's question. "Told me you snuck out a bit ago before going to bed. Normally I'd assume you'd be taking Ayoko and Kanna shopping, but that's not the case this late at night is it?"

"N-no." Mako looked down at her shoes and held her arm. "Go upstairs girls."

Ayoko nodded and led Kanna with her.

Ryosuke and Mako made eye contact, the two waiting to speak until the young women had reached the top of the stairwell. Mako held her tongue until she heard Kanna's door close.

"It's nothing that ba-"

"Don't even try." Ryosuke stood up, got much closer to Mako, and whispered angrily to his wife with his arms crossed. "What if you were seen?"

Mako put her hands on her hips. "We weren't seen-"

"Those idiot kids were caught, it's all over the news and it hasn't even been four hours since it happened!" Ryosuke hissed.

"W-We can't pretend we're not racers." Mako had to tear her eyes away from her husband's.

"Yes!" Ryosuke reached out to hold his wife's shoulder in an attempt to regain eye contact. "Yes, we are racers. But now we're parents. I have Gunma's largest hospitals to run and I can't have this on top of everything else."

"The 90s were the best years of our lives Ryosuke, there's nothing wrong with reliving them for just even a moment," Mako admitted.

"Aside from the fact that it's illegal, and we have a family of three young adults." Ryosuke's blue eyes flickered upstairs towards Satoru's and Kanna's bedrooms. "Racing is harder now. Thing's have changed since when we met, information travels way too fast now."

Mako pulled her shoulder away. "You didn't even ask why I did it."

"I know why you did it," Ryosuke responded.

Mako raised her voice as they stood in the kitchen together. "No! You don't. I saw myself in Ayoko, and her friend."

"Just because they look like you and Sayu-"

"It's not that! The same disappointment in themselves, the same self-pity for being girls! We-"

"You're being absurd Mako!" Ryosuke raised his voice too, his very boisterous and masculine voice echoing throughout the kitchen. "Listen to yourself, a grown woman acting like a teenager again!" Ryosuke waved a hand.

Despite rarely if ever seeing her husband like this, Mako refused to listen anymore. "I'm going to bed," Mako said instantly and turned around to walk up the stairs.

Ryosuke breathed in sharply, watching his wife leave the kitchen quietly. "I-I meant that-"

"Don't," Mako muttered.

Silence fell between the two as Mako approached the bottom of the stairwell, beginning her ascent upstairs.

As she did Ryosuke shook in anger before yelling louder than he ever did in months realizing she wouldn't listen, pointing up to his wife with her back turned to him. "You're not teaching those two to race! You're not tearing my family apart!"

"Our family. Remember?" Mako stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around. "The only thing you're tearing apart is yourself Ryosuke."

"Mako we're not done here! I said we're not done!" the woman walked away upstairs to lock herself in her bedroom. "Mako! Mako!"

He heard the door slam shut.

"Mako!?"

Utter silence forced the man to voice his concerns under his own breath. "I'm overreacting when my family's threatened. Pah! Ridiculous."

Rage grew within Ryosuke's heart like an igniting rocket engine when it hit him how Mako would refuse to listen.

Ryosuke looked downwards with a strained and angered breath. After cursing for a second, he reached for whatever was nearby to throw, and Ryosuke hurled his coffee cup at the wall, shattering it loudly with a grunt.

CRASH!

He stayed as silent as a statue seeing the coffee slip over the hardwood floor of his kitchen and the shattered glass of his favorite coffee mug. Something inside Ryosuke shattered seeing the same porcelain he had used for years broken in an instant.

He held back his tears for a moment.

Ryosuke turned his gaze from the broken cup and looked at a picture of his father by his refrigerator back when Ryosuke had won his first-ever national Biology competition. It was the only time the man had personally gotten a gift for him.

The picture was Ryosuke smiling widely at the camera holding his Science trophy as Ryosuke's father stood taller behind him sternly simply placing a hand on his shoulder and nodding.

_'You are going to have many long nights ahead of you when you become a doctor Ryo-san. This will be very important.'_

_Fourteen-year-old Ryosuke Takahashi unwrapped the only gift his father ever directly gave to him, holding the white porcelain coffee cup in his hand._

_'Thank you father, I will use it for every study session when I need to.' teenage Ryosuke said._

Ryosuke started bawling his eyes out seeing the coffee cup his father gave him shattered. The man was gone, and besides his home, nothing remained but empty memories, slipping out of his son's eyes in tiny pearls.

Ryosuke fell down onto his knees next to the shattered coffee mug crying to himself quietly. He gasped quietly through his tears, breaking down in pieces just like his beloved cup.

"I didn't. I didn't." He sniffled. "I didn't mean to break it-" He took a giant breath. "I-I'm so sorry. Father."

Ryosuke shook his head, still sobbing at the impulsive decision to break whatever was close to him. The grown man had no clue what was happening to him, just that it was hurting him.

_'Mako never walks away from me like that. A-Am I a bad husband? Because I'm trying to be a good father?'_

Ryosuke placed a hand over his chest, feeling an ache grow in his heart that he never would've guessed he'd feel after turning forty years old.

"I'm so sorry father." Ryosuke looked away from the shattered mug.

Ryosuke sighed wiping away his tears as he reached for the picture of his father crying slightly onto it as well. Ryosuke took a deep breath, before suddenly, his dry emotions washed away, forming into steaming hot anger.

Ryosuke took out his cell phone and dialed a contact of his.

The local law clerk on the other end of the line picked up. "H-Hello? It's two in the morning, h-how can I help you, Mr. Takahashi?"

"Hello, Souchi-san," Ryosuke spoke very clearly as he looked to his reflection in the refrigerator door. "Let everyone at your job downtown now this: Notify the press, it's time to assert something." he put down the picture of him and his father. "Gunma will not tolerate any illegal street racing under any circumstance."

Ryosuke tapped away on his phone to let a psychologist that he had not spoken in a long time to know he wanted to have a session.

...

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice Kyoko," Ryosuke said to his brother's wife in a the outdoor part of a coffee shop. "I know that your clinic was closed today anyway, but Saitama is a decent drive away for you I'm sure."

"It's fine. I actually had something I wanted to share with you anyway." Kyoko smiled.

Ryosuke smiled back lightly. "What is it?"

Kyoko squealed for a moment after taking a sip from her coffee. "Ah! It's that. Keisuke and I and are going to have another baby!"

Ryosuke's eyes widened. "R-Really?"

Kyoko nodded and smiled. "Yeah! If it's a boy we'll name him Kyoichi. If it's a girl, Saiko."

"Oh...come here Kyoko." Ryosuke stood up to embrace his sister in law. "I'm so happy for you!" he said when they both pulled away from the hug.

"Thank you." Kyoko sat back down at the outdoor cafe. "Hinata-san personally insisted we be in his ward when I deliver when he heard of it this morning."

Ryosuke took another sip from his coffee. "While I am glad to hear about this, I wanted to discuss something else with you."

"Trouble with the wife?" Kyoko waved a hand and shook her head at her brother in law. "It happens don't worry."

"This is different. There's something else involved."

Kyoko sipped her coffee. "What?"

"Racing."

Kyoko grew interested. "Racing?"

Ryosuke nodded. "Yes. I caught Mako trying to teach our girls how to drift last night."

"O-Oh. And you two had a fight?"

Ryosuke sighed. "Mako wouldn't listen. That's the first time in years she's done this."

"Well, Ryosuke." Kyoko looked aside and made eye contact with him again. "They're not exactly your daughters."

"I'm doing a favor to Mako, especially after what happened. Racing is incredibly dangerous now, especially with how things have changed." Ryosuke gulped before speaking slowly, looking down at his lap. "I-I feel like I'm failing in my relationship with Mako. And that soon, something bad might happen to me or my children."

Kyoko placed a hand on Ryosuke's as it sat on the table and he looked up at her. "Hey, it's ok to feel this way. Every father goes through this at one point or another." Kyoko leaned back and placed her hand in her lap. "Do you know often Keisuke would freak out when Hiroshi would run around after we brought him home?"

Ryosuke smiled. "My kids aren't babies anymore Kyoko."

"You're missing the point. Racing is a touchy subject, especially for you and Mako-san. You're both dealing with some very troubling things, Mako is tired of being just a housewife and she wants to feel like a racer again. And you don't want street racing to come back at all. It'd be tricky for any couple to go through this." Kyoko sighed when she checked the time.

"You have to go?" Ryosuke held his cup.

Kyoko shook her head. "Just in a few minutes. I know you two have the money to see an actual marriage counselor, but that's not too far from what I do. Would you be willing to consider me?"

Ryosuke nodded. "Of course."

"But about you and Mako. First, you chose the wrong woman to want to hold back from racing." Kyoko leaned onto her elbow on the table. "She would be caught dead before missing another shot to revive Impact Blue, especially now with Kanna and Ayoko in your home."

Ryosuke sighed. "I love racing too but now-"

"Ryosuke, you are much different than everyone else. You don't think that everyone from back in the day wanted to hit the asphalt last night after what happened? Hinata, Keisuke, Fujiwara, Friedland, you I'm sure, me?" Kyoko breathed in deeply and straightened her posture. "God, I would've killed to be on Sadamine last night with Itsuha and my FD, could you imagine the mother-daughter bonding?"

Ryosuke chuckled. "Yeah, I can imagine."

"This need we have to pass on our cars to our kids, our styles, all this. It's perfectly natural. And I know all of us have moved, most of all you. But Mako, unfortunately, has nothing to do all day but sit around and watch television."

"What do you think about all of it though?" Ryosuke wondered.

"Me?" Kyoko bit her lip. "Mmm! Well, I think that we're sort of trying to live through our children by doing it. But on the other hand, they're young, they're going to want to do it regardless."

Ryosuke checked his phone. "I go on the air in about twenty minutes, I'll message you to set up a session with you and Mako."

"Hey, she's not as meek as she used to be, remember that." Kyoko stood up and placed a few bills on the table.

"Yeah, I know," Ryosuke remembered how shy she was to even approach him during his lone-wolf days on Akagi.

The two hugged and parted ways for the day.

...

"Remember, let me do the talking." Councilwoman Ito said to Ryosuke who was getting makeup on his face. "You're just there to show that a former racer is once again saying how racing can't happen anymore. I actually know and write the laws regarding this nonsense."

"Do you think the kids will actually listen though?" Ryosuke closed his eyes as the young woman brushed over his face.

Ito shrugged. "Meh, it doesn't really matter as long as they get the message."

A man wearing a headset and a hat popped his head in the dressing room. "We're on in three."

Ryosuke nodded to the woman after she started packing up her makeup set. "Jeez, when's the last time you had to go on the air?"

"Not often." Ito sighed. "Cable television's even dead here in Gunma. Who wants to watch something a network airs if it's not a stupid TV show or something?"

Ryosuke leaned back in his chair. "What do you think about what happened last night?"

"Ugh." Ito rolled her eyes. "Typical of the media to spin everything out of proportion. It was just two dumb teens messing around on Akina, and just because their fathers are influential morons we have to pick up the pieces and explain." she tutted. "I've spoken to both Friedland and Fujiwara, they just got slapped on the wrist with a few fines because of their connections with their prefectures. And somehow people believe we won't enforce this stuff when it happens again."

"Will it happen again?" Ryosuke looked around the makeup room in the news studio.

"For sure."

"We're on." the man returned with his clipboard and nodded.

Ryosuke shook hands with the bespectacled anchor. "Thank you for having us on."

"My pleasure, I loved covering your brother's 'bad boy' persona when you two hit the cover of 'Racer's Monthly.' in '94." The anchor said.

Ryosuke chuckled and sat down as a crew member fixed a mic to his and Ito's shirts. "Thanks for keeping the heart of Japan's culture alive."

"My pleasure, but news has been dead for years since the explosion of the net." The anchor checked something on his phone before nodding to the cameraman. "We're on in five."

A crew member tapped a few buttons on his control panel and nodded. "Soundchecks are good."

An intro played for 'Gunma 10 News' and the anchor fixed his papers and looked straight at the camera with Ryosuke and Ito.

"We're live here from our studio in Maebashi, and I'm Yunichi Koru. I'm joined here today by Councilwoman Hokobu Ito and former racer Takahashi Ryosuke."

"Pleasure to be here Koru," Ito said.

"Hello." Ryosuke nodded.

Because it was midday, young adults from all over Kanto were watching during their lunch breaks on their phones because they knew they'd be covering the hottest topic around.

"It's starting it's starting!" Itsuha waved over a huge group of teens who huddled around Hiro's laptop.

"Hey, Hiro isn't that your uncle?" Danny asked.

"Sh!" everyone hissed.

The anchor placed his pen on a line in his notes. "So Councilwoman Ito, we're here of course to discuss the recent developments regarding a small incident with-"

"A race. A drift race." Ryosuke corrected stubbornly, earning him a look from Ito.

"R-Right a drift race." the anchor said. "So then-"

Seiichi stopped sweeping the floor in his homeroom not far from the studio as Satoru and the new kid Jia waved him over to join them in watching the broadcast.

"What is your opinion on this recent incident with drifting?"

"Well Koru, racing is still illegal. Racing has always been illegal. And after conferring with every other prefecture in Kanto, traffic regulation will continue to be enforced with every ounce of our power."

The anchor asked an obvious question. "So then what about the two drivers?"

"Wh-What?" Ito cleared her throat.

"What about the two people driving those cars who were caught racing? What'll happen to them?"

"Well we currently don't know who drove the cars, police have been unable to identify-"

Ryosuke started tuning out Ito's words as she rambled on and on and policy and procedure and all sorts of political drivel. What mattered to him was being ignored, and everything faded into the background as static in his mind.

"-And you. Mr. Takahashi? Mr. Takahashi?"

He stopped tuning out everything. "Sorry?"

"And your opinion?" the anchor asked.

"My opinion." Ryosuke chuckled and looked down at his lap.

Thousands of eyes were on Ryosuke as he knew that Ito's words were basically already written off as a politician's formality. He sniffed, the studio silent as he fixed his tie and spoke clearer than ever before in his life. "Lies. Ito lies."

The whole studio took a step back, including the viewers.

"I-I'm sorry, you're claiming she lied?" the anchor asked.

Ryosuke nodded and glared at the woman next to him. "Yeah. She lied all right. She lied because we've known who raced last night, since the moment it happened. Everyone and their mother knows who raced last night, except us, even though we're supposed to be the authority on everything right now."

Ryosuke stood up for a second and then sat back down before pointing. "This. You and her, it's why Japan's culture is dying. The institution's everyone relies on, are completely dead. Our tradition has instilled no sense of meaning or value to anyone because people like you two won't stop lying! There's no more honesty."

"C-Cut." the anchor did a motion under his chin to the cameraman and cleared his throat. "C-Cut the feed."

"I know these two idiot children because I've known them since they were young-"

"Mr. Takahashi-" Ito tried to stop him.

"Shut up." Ryosuke kept looking right at the camera. "These two boys are Fujiwara Seiichi and Thomas Friedland. They belong in a jail cell for the next three years, but because their fathers have political connections, they get to run scot-free!"

Mako sipped her wine on her couch watching her husband spill everything that's been on his mind to thousands of people, including viewers in other countries who had heard of the incident.

"We've become corrupt. Us, one of the most honorable cultures on the planet have let these two boys race! Race! We've failed to discipline two young men from two of the most prestigious families in the country! That's a sign of our failure to raise our children properly!"

The anchor smiled to the camera. "We're out of time for today folks, tune in-"

"No, this segment's at least five minutes." Ryosuke again showed another lie. "But here's the truth. Here's the truth," Ryosuke placed a finger on the glass table in front of him. "The truth is, that if we as parents, don't enforce the most important cornerstone of our society, which is our laws! Our country will fall apart! Our culture will fall apart!"

"Our traditions have held Japan together for over a thousand years. I can't let it all fall apart because of two foolish boys!" Ryosuke pointed to the camera. "I know you're watching this Thomas. I'm taking that car back."

Hiro and everyone else in Thomas' homeroom died of laughter and patted the embarrassed genius on the back.

"Mr. Takahashi-" the anchor tried to reign in Ryosuke's outburst.

"No! I'm taking that car back, you are the world's worst nephew! And you two Seiichi, you're getting an earful from me too!" Ryosuke yelled. "I'm driving to Saitama High right now! But before I go! I want to say this about street racing."

Ryosuke took a deep breath and roared at the top of his lungs. "WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT ANYMORE!" He slammed his fist down as strongly as he could while yelling, cracking the glass on the studio's table.

And just like that, Ryosuke Takahashi became a living internet meme that became a hundred times as viral as the race between Seiichi and Thomas. The irony, the hypocrisy, the honesty that came from Ryosuke's mouth on live TV and his rage-fueled outburst became exactly what the internet wanted.

A lust-filled answer for meaning.

The video got posted on Youtube within two minutes and gained over a million views in under an hour. Comments streamed forth like a rushing river rapid.

BOOMER HYPOCRISY!

This guy was a racer right?

F*** THIS GUY!

he's right but wrong in so many ways

The most upvoted comment of all was one by Takahashi Hiro himself.

This is them. This is everyone trying to keep us down! Teenagers unite!

In every high school in Japan, in every place where people in Asia and the United States where young adults communed, everyone was talking about it:

The picture of Ryosuke smashing his fist down and yelling: We will not stand for it!

The context of his rant drove discussion, and the discussion drove what every teenager wanted: attention.

Knowing what was happening and that Ryosuke was on his way, everyone in Saitama High flooded to Thomas' homeroom.

Teachers dropped their chalk seeing the stampede of schoolboys and girls stream by and swamp Thomas Friedland, other students automatically without a shred of thought seeing them and joining to see what the fuss was about, practically fleeing from their desks.

They lifted him onto their shoulders and started carrying him.

Thomas asked one of the people carrying him. "Why the hell are you guys doing this?"

"I don't know! Everyone on the internet started talking about you!" the boy said. "Everyone else is doing it anyway!"

The crowd carried Thomas down the halls and out of the schools, any teachers that tried to stop them almost got ran over by the horde.

They reached the school parking lot and placed Thomas down on top of his FC, looking up to him in awe. The boy only stood in silence.

"Say something!" a girl said.

"Yeah Friedland, say something!" a boy said holding up his phone waiting for his response.

Fueled by the same instinctual teen energy as his classmates, Thomas looked over the familiar crowd with Hiro, Itsuha, Asuo, and others. "My uncle is coming down that street right now! He's gonna try to take back my car! But guess what?"

The crowd looked up to him already posting what Thomas said on social media.

"We're not gonna let him take it! Are we!?"

"No!" the crowd responded.

Thomas realized every single student in Saitama City Highschool had rushed out to see what was happening, including the staff in a desperate attempt to control their students.

"Oh shit, here come's the press!" a boy said seeing a news truck approach.

Student and faculty had a back and forth regarding just why everyone decided to rush Thomas outside onto his car. A reporter approached the crowd speaking loudly with a microphone extended towards the teen standing on his car. "Thomas! Thomas Friedland!" the woman said. "Thomas! Ryosuke Takahashi is coming back right now to take your car back! How do you respond?"

"It's pretty simple." Thomas laughed very loudly and responded. "We will not stand for it! We're not gonna let him take it!"

More news trucks approached, and the police had to be called in to drag the students back inside to attend their lessons.

A reporter stood in front of the crowd and spoke into her mic. "I'm here at Saitama High, where hundreds of students have gathered in protest in response to Takahashi Ryosuke's claim to drive here and take it back. According to teacher faculty, every single student in the school has joined. Police have failed to return students to their classrooms, and the protests continue."

The camera stopped focusing on the reporter and zoomed in on the signs the students held. "Some in the demonstration have drawn Mr. Takahashi live outburst in pastel and in other artistic interpretations. Whether the students are embracing or rejecting his sentiment towards mainstream Japanese culture, is still up to debate."

The camera returned to the reporter who smiled. "But if you ask me, even the students appear to have no idea what the protest is really about."

Ryosuke's silver Toyota Prius appeared, and reporters flocked to the car when Ryosuke stopped and got out. He ignored them all and approached the police barricade by the student protest.

"Mr. Takahashi-"

"Get out of my way," Ryosuke said to the officer when he stepped past him and then the barricade. He pointed and yelled up to Thomas who was laughing on his car. "Thomas Friedland, you give me that car back right now!"

"Sorry uncle! That can't happen, because we will not stand for it, right guys!?"

The crowd roared and laughed in response, dragging Ryosuke into it as he kept yelling at Thomas. "Thomas give me the keys! Now!"

"He's not giving them to you man." a male student said as he pushed Ryosuke around the crowd.

"You want the keys so badly? Here!" Thomas tossed them while laughing and into the crowd.

The crowd teased Ryosuke by having him run around aimlessly in the horde of students trying to chase the keys that went from the hands of one student to another. While Thomas honestly didn't care at this point what the consequences of his behavior were, he knew that it would all be fine.

After all, he would not stand for it.


	5. Fallout

Chapter Five: Fallout

...

Thomas Friedland was sat down in his headmaster's office and barked at by half the staff for over half an hour before promising to use his new influence over the students to not let anyone protest like that again in a sort of 'deal' to not get expelled.

Secretly, the boy promised himself to drive up to Sadamine Pass with his friends and reignite Saitama's competitive racing scene.

Fumihiro Hiroshi, a sports car dealer who also tuned cars on the side, was flooded with emails and notifications on his phone for potential offers. Overnight, Japan's underground racing scene became fueled by the same passion that took Ryosuke's meltdown viral.

Many other sports car dealers like Fumihiro also started seeing Yen signs in their eyes whenever they looked at their inboxes.

The Fujiwara family faced more press attention than they had in over a decade, as Seiichi sighed when he took the AE86 towards Lake Haruna with reporters in a horde outside his home.

Mika walked outside to pick up the newspaper only to start waving away reporters over with it to get them to go away.

Ryosuke also couldn't deal with it either, waving off a press mob outside his home when he only had one thing on his mind: an apology to his wife. His marriage in jeopardy, his reputation ruined in the span of a few hours by the internet, he had never felt more broken.

Japan itself had taken the largest blow to its cultural integrity in years, as every single person between the ages of fifteen and twenty-seven were talking about one thing: the Saitama protests and how to find what they meant.

Were they just about rebelling? That Japan's ways were outdated? That racing should come back? Just what in the world was all this craziness about?

The buzz about the most interesting thing to happen in Kanto's history in over sixty years gripped everyone and every conversation. Huddled around lunch tables, students scrolled through car sites looking to put their money together to maybe go in on a sports machine together and race, hiding their phones when teachers walked by.

Thomas and Seiichi were hailed as heroes wherever they walked for the rest of the week, students coming up to them and whispering about potential car meetups.

"My dad has a 180 laying around I think..."

"God I wish I had taken that loan on that Supra last year if I knew this was gonna happen..."

Danny was positively over the moon to see his moody and brooding best friend Thomas get more attention from females than he ever had in his whole life.

Itsuha sipped from her water bottle seeing this out of the corner of her eye seeing the crowd of girls flock to Thomas when he entered their homeroom.

She bit her lip and looked down at her lap before realizing her older brother was smirking at her and leaning on his elbow on his desk.

"Jealous?" the blonde chuckled.

"Shut up Hiro." Itsuha crossed her legs and stood up straighter at her desk.

Ryosuke would walk out to his Prius one Wednesday morning to see a newspaper flung at him from a smiling local Takasaki delivery boy on his bicycle.

"You look great Mr. Takahashi!" Jia smiled at him and waved, making sure to keep making extra money to support his mother and his new racing hobby.

Ryosuke saw the newcomer to Japan keep riding his bike before picking up the newspaper and nearly shredding it in his hands seeing the headline and how he made the front page with his rage.

Local Hospital Owner loses mind, becomes internet cultural sensation!

He threw it in a trash can before driving to his job, realizing he was backing out over a large number of random things as he reversed.

Ryosuke was completely straight-faced and silent to see he had received hundreds of artistic interpretations of him slamming his fist on a table and yelling with letters attached. Ryosuke started reading them and running through the words his entire country's generation of young adults sent him before jumping on the entire pile and starting to stomp on them.

Satoru walked up to his mother at the open front door of the Takahashi household as she sipped her coffee seeing Ryosuke go ballistic and scream loudly in anger getting the attention of his neighbors. He continued to tear apart the gigantic pile of art in his driveway in rage as Satoru looked to Mako. "Ma? Is dad losing his mind?"

She sipped from her coffee mug. "I think so, honey."

"Raaa!" Ryosuke jumped on the pile of art and letters again enraged so many people had rejected his message completely and were calling him so out of touch. "Damned kids!"

Seiichi was receiving very generous tips from customers and Takumi was getting more business than ever, since the Fujiwara Tofu Shop was getting nearly daily coverage.

Ryosuke walked out of his office in his hospital holding a clipboard seeing a line of young women outside sitting in chairs calmly.

_'As if things weren't crazy enough with Mako already...'_

He sighed, rubbing his exhausted eyes. "Next."

The person who took this madness the best was Thomas, who took the opportunity to do even more research about cars and mountain racing, who couldn't wait until Friday night when everyone was going to meet up at Sadamine as Saitama's first car meet in a decade.

Seiichi and Satoru had also already planned the same thing at Akina, and Jia was also excited, being a huge racing fan.

Japan's high school students began socializing differently, especially in Gunma and Saitama, as they could feel the cultural shift Ryosuke's speech created when it received global attention.

Students found themselves reading different kinds of manga, attracted to different kinds of media, trying to reach a newfound nostalgia for crappy 80s and 90s racing movies.

Parents were desperate to try and reign in their children from becoming obsessed with 'hashiriya' while at the same time, Japan's racing underground exploded. Professional Japanese circuit racing caught more ratings and attention than they ever had in years, car companies realizing the profits that could be made with all the craze over racing.

...

Takahashi Kyoko's Mental Health Clinic

Saitama, Friday Afternoon.

...

"I'm acting like a child?" Mako turned to Kyoko in shock throwing a thumb to her husband. "He's the one who became a worldwide sensation over some temper tantrum he threw on international television! He's the one losing his mind every other hour! He became a living internet sensation, and I'm stepping out of line."

Ryosuke roared quietly, remembering what Kyoko said about inside voices. "I told you!" Ryosuke rubbed his temple. "It's time we reigned in our children, I've gotten dozens of letters this past week from many worried parents and city councils agreeing with me. We retake control through our laws."

"See? Supposedly I'm being ridiculous here." Kyoko glanced at the clock as Mako straightened her posture. "Do you know how many people ended up being absolutely disgusted by what he was talking about?"

"It's better than teaching them how to race," Ryosuke said calmly.

Kyoko saw Mako's expression after this and reached a hand out. "Just one second." The married couple looked at the counselor. "You two have both dealt with what happened this week very differently." she tapped her pen on her notepad. "And from what I'm hearing, in a way, you both blame each other right? So I recommend that you try to communicate better."

She waved a hand to the former racer. "Mako, you want to teach your girls to race and continue Impact Blue's legacy. Ryosuke, explain how that feels. Honestly."

Ryosuke took a breath. "I feel like that decision is very irresponsible and harmful to our family's integrity."

"Mako? Is Ryosuke wrong?" Kyoko asked.

"Yes. The girls need a healthy outlet, everybody their age is starting to do it, and they should learn how to do so from someone who can do it safely." Mako affirmed. "If the next generation's going to race then they should do it right."

Ryosuke exhaled sharply. "That doesn't make it right, especially since it is highly illegal. That's the bedrock of our culture. Making our laws concrete. Bringing back pride and honor to our traditions."

Mako looked at Kyoko again. "I've always been a racer."

"So was I. So were you." Ryosuke shook his head at his wife. "The 90s are over, we all moved on. It was a different time, we had been doing it for years. You don't think some random kid isn't gonna get hurt trying?"

"That's not your place to decide," Mako said.

"It is. As a parent, as part of the community."

Kyoko eyed the clock. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today."

Ryosuke sighed and looked down at his lap. _'Racing was easier than marriage.'_

_..._

By the time nighttime fell, Takeshi and Jia got out of the holo blue Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nür BNR34 and Jia observed from the top of the pass.

"This is Mount Akagi, one of my favorite places to drift back in the day. So what do you think?"

"Uh, I've never really driven really fast before, so I can't say." Jia shrugged.

Takeshi nodded. "Hm, you're right. Let's go down the hill shall we?'

Jia sat in the driver's seat, looking at the Turbo gauge and his tachometer. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, first things first. While you're in a bucket seat, your first corner's gonna scare the shit out of you, even if you go slow. Secondly, you're driving an R34 downhill and it has 450 horses."

"Four hundred and fifty?" Jia's eyes widened at his teacher who sat on his left. "That's a lot!"

Takeshi chuckled. "Most Skylines have way more, Kaito knew you were gonna be going downhill so he de-tuned it. We can always talk to him to lower it later if it's too much. Now, be careful because she has a lot of kick. Just tap on the engine and you'll see."

Jia keyed the ignition and gasped hearing just how loudly it jumped.

The Skyline hummed with power, the blue machine shaking Jia's hands from how much the engine growled when he pressed the gas.

"H-Holy shit." Jia pulled his black hair back.

"Okay, just drive down the hill. Get a feel for her. I'll let you know if you're going too fast."

Jia pressed the accelerator and the R34 jumped forward, slamming him inside his bucket seat. The R34 started accelerating down the hill, Takeshi chuckling. "Get how much power she has?"

"Y-Yeah." Jia guided the car lightly around a slight left curve at 50 km/h.

The car kept driving down the hill, Jia turning the steering wheel to move around the following light right curve.

"Here come's Akagi's first hairpin turn. Slam the brakes and turn the wheel sharply to the left and then to the right."

Jia felt fear grow when he saw the guardrail approach. "R-Right!? Are you insane!?"

"Just trust me kid!" Takeshi yelled quickly as the hairpin came.

At 55 km/h, Jia hit the brakes and clipped traction making the red circles in the back of the R glow red and back up, the car beginning the slide into the sharp left turn. As it slid, Jia balanced and counter steered the drift's pressure out by keeping the front tires pointed to the right as he slid left and swung around the turn.

Steam flew from the tires and screeched loudly as the car drifted.

The back nearly bumped against the guardrail when the R34 came out of the turn and whipped back into position to accelerate downhill.

"Wh-Whoa! I did it! I drifted!" laughed Jia.

"Yeah a pretty shit drift, but yeah, you drifted all right," Takeshi mumbled. "This car's heavy as hell, keep doing those turns and you'll shred your front tires."

"O-Okay, how do I turn fast but not destroy my car?" Jia slowed down to ease his way through the slight left curve, still not confident at all to accelerate any more than 55 km/h or so.

Takeshi smiled. "That's the question, isn't it? Well really, you can't unless you grip or have pretty insane reflexes. The only racer I knew who could use AWD and a Skyline to drift was Hoshino Kozo, and he was God Foot, he could basically control his R34 as it was part of his own body."

"B-But I drifted," Jia said shyly as he guided the car slowly around another curve not sliding or gripping.

Takeshi snorted. "Yeah, but it was dogshit. It was your first drift, everyone's first anything on the hill is trash. This guy had perfect timing, that's the name of the game in racing."

"Really?" Jia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that and understanding your car," Takeshi said before he noticed headlights in Jia's rearview. "There's people coming."

"Do I pull over?" Jia asked knowing it was his first time on the mountain and could barely push 60 km/h.

"Wait." Takeshi watched closely to see the two cars behind him. "They're not just your average cars that's for sure."

Judging from what little he could see Takeshi could tell they were turbocharged.

"Accelerate, don't let them pass," Takeshi said.

Before Jia could press the gas they both took a lane from Jia and passed the blue BNR34.

"Aw, what!?" Jia exclaimed hitting the steering wheel with his palms.

"That's racing for you kid, you gotta stay on your toes." Takeshi shrugged.

As all three of them approached the hairpin together, Takeshi saw the car makes. One was a custom red Mazda RX-8 and the other a black S15 Silvia.

Both of them cleared the turn much quicker than Jia and soon left him in the dust.

Soon after another turn, Jia saw they both pulled over and Takeshi spoke to him. "Switch spots with me, let me do the talking."

The R34 pulled over and Takeshi left the driver's seat seeing the young men leaning confidently on their cars.

...

**~INITIAL D!~**

...

**~INITIAL D!~**

...

"Hey, there nice moves." Takeshi approached the two other drivers on the side of the road.

"Uh!" The young man with stubble and a hat looked at his friend seeing Takeshi's rugged look and fell over laughing.

"The hell!?" One of the three asked. "How is some homeless guy with a ride this sharp?"

"Makes sense how slow he was going, he probably stole the thing and took it for a joy ride." The Silvia driver said.

Jia grunted quietly in anger sitting in the passenger's seat of his car, seeing the three of them laugh at his mentor.

"Ah..." the cap-wearing race fan sighed seeing Jia's beautiful Skyline R34. "Seriously, I'd call the cops on you for stealing such a nice car. But the thing is I think someone on a tricycle could probably go faster than you on the downhill, cops would have no trouble catching you."

They all laughed together after that as Takeshi stayed completely calm and said nothing.

"Oh shit, I think I know this guy." the young man turned his cap around and pointed to Takeshi leaning slightly off his car. "He's the Blue Jet's anchor from back in the day! Bad boy Aizima! One of the fastest in Kanto!"

"Nah, he used to drive an Impreza." his friend shook his head before laughing. "Plus he wasn't a bum like this guy who smells like ass."

Jia balled his fists in anger as Takeshi still kept silent seeing them roar in laughter at him.

"Oh god, let's get out of here guys." the RX-8 driver leaned off his car and entered it.

The Silvia driver opened the driver's side door and laughed at Takeshi again. "Actually learn how to go downhill, you're making actual street racers look bad."

Takeshi returned to his car after the S15 and RX-8 flew off and entered the driver's seat. Jia looked at him as he inspected how the inside of the car looked, opening the glove box, adjusting the rearview and such.

"What're you doing?" Jia asked seeing him do this.

Takeshi rolled his neck. "Giving 'em a head start."

"Are you serious?" Jia gasped. "When's the last time you raced?"

"Over twenty years ago," said Takeshi casually as he cracked his knuckles loudly. "If you want to be a racer, pay attention. You need to be able to handle real speed."

"Wh-What!?" Takeshi turned on the engine and made Jia scream in surprise when he pressed the gas. "W-Whoa!" he yelled.

Takeshi scratched his beard. _'Absolutely perfect acceleration. It practically flew off the line like a jet plane. This car has more than enough grip and power to be a rally car!'_

Jia gripped the car scared for his life seeing how Takeshi was pushing the R34 past 100 km/h after only pressing the gas for about a minute.

"Slow down!" shrieked Jia at the top of his lungs.

_'Damn this is well aspirated.'_ Takeshi thought seeing how quickly the car jumped to the speed he wanted. _'I can barely touch the gas and the throttle flies. Great job Kaito! You still got it!'_

Takeshi was skilled enough to use a grip technique on the inside line to tackle a curve at 90 km/h, not abusing the ABS and shifting properly with skill. The car screeched and Jia was on the verge of passing out in shock as Takeshi thought. 'Hm, she doesn't handle too differently from my GC8. Sure there's way more power and she's a lot heavier, but overall I really like it. I feel like I'm back on Kobushi again with my boys.'

"Takeshi please slow down!" Jia kept screaming as the R34 looped around the turn gripping, catching up with the RX-8 and the S15.

Jia's breathing started slowing down after Takeshi cleared another hairpin by gripping it again. He began to calm himself knowing that his teacher was just showing him the true speed of the hairpins and was in full control of the car despite his speed.

The S15 pulled his handbrake and shot around the curve.

"Nice man, you blew past it like it was nothing!"

The driver saw Takeshi's headlights in his rearview. "Finally catching up huh old man?"

The three cars ran down the straight together, Jia finally having calmed down enough to stop screaming and observe Takeshi's years of experience in action.

Takeshi gripped the slight right curve quickly enough to tailgate the S15.

"Whaaat!?" the driver yelled loudly seeing the R34 press to his bumper. "How is that homeless guy driving so quickly?"

They wheeled left and right through the slight S curves making their tires screech loudly.

The S15's driver's and his friend's nervousness to maintain a good pace contrasted completely with how calm Takeshi could handle the turns, focusing only on his technique instead of the speed.

_'I'm gonna shred my front tires but let's go.'_ Takeshi observed the S15 shift poorly as he spoke to Jia. "I'm going to drift, watch closely."

"Hm!" Jia nodded.

Takeshi made the rear of the blue Skyline back up and the red rings glow when he pressed the brake pedal, shifting and turning the car to make it face the inside as he drifted at 80 km/h, tearing a lot of grip off his front tires but still having the skill to be very effective, having used an AWD for years.

Takeshi countersteered to the left as he blew through the right turn, shocking the S15 driver and his friend from how quickly he was turning. The tires of all three cars screeched loudly as they drifted together.

"Drift!?" the young men in the S15 roared in shock.

"He has to be some driver to slide so quickly in a car that heavy!" the S15 driver started to get scared of Takeshi's driving seeing how quickly the R34 whipped out of the curve and accelerated back up to his bumper in an instant.

Takeshi dove left and right, nearly catching the Silvia driver from how much power the R34 had as he was blocked. Bringing out as much power as he could from the GT-R, the RB turbo engine hissed loudly with power as Takeshi used a grip technique at 90 km/h to hold the inside during another hard curve.

He hit the brakes and guided the car lightly by curving the car while still maintaining traction in all his tires, Jia watching closely and taking mental notes as Takeshi managed to balance the car's power through the turn with how much grip the tires had.

Despite having a much lighter car, the S15 driver ballooned slightly to the outside when curving due to lacking sufficient speed and not balancing properly enough, leaving enough space for Takeshi to make his attack.

The S15 driver watched in awe as Takeshi blew past him on the inside line making his car look like an earlier mentioned tricycle on the downhill.

_'I chose the right guy to teach me how to race on the mountain.'_ Jia thought as Takeshi upshifted expertly, and pressed the gas tailgating the RX-8 the second he left the turn at a higher gear. _'He really seems to understand the car and how to turn really quickly!'_

Takeshi did another power slide, showing Jia how sharp his reflexes were and how good his technique was after years of racing in a turbo AWD similar to the R34.

Takeshi did a classic heel and toe technique, clipping traction in the rear tires by braking, downshifting, and guiding the car around the turn by lightly countersteering to the left as it slid, slamming Jia inside his bucket seat as the R34 pressed up right next to the RX-8's side.

The holo blue paint job of the BNR34 glowed beautifully under the moon as the turbochargers hissed again and the car slid perfectly while screeching around the turn while drifting, whipping back into place and accelerating right back up to the RX-8 bumper again.

"Flashy drifting! But good luck passing me gramps, I'm no chump." the RX-8 driver gripped the steering wheel.

Takeshi took the inside line easily as Jia watched how quickly the R34 accelerated down the hill and was incredibly reactive to his shifting and braking when curving right during the grip run.

The RX-8 screeched during its drift as Takeshi kept gripping, Takeshi upshifting and leaving the RX-8 in the dust using the R34's monstrous acceleration, flying so quickly off the inside line the red car's driver barely saw Takeshi's taillights.

Shocked at how fast he was passed, the Mazda driver gasped. "Goddamn that old man was no joke, he blew past us like we were nothing! He has to be the legendary Impreza driver from the 90s after all!"

He sat pale in his bucket seat seeing how quickly Takeshi cleared a right curve by gripping it. "Wow, can he turn..."

Jia was stunned as well. Takeshi was middle-aged but still showed far better reflexes and seemed to know every single thing to do during the race. When and how to press the gas, to shift, to attack, everything.

_'This car is so responsive. Its gearbox shifts so well, the drivetrain transmits power like a dream, and the brakes and tires offer more grip than I can imagine. I can't wait to see how you unlock its full potential Jia.'_

What shocked Jia was Takeshi's reflexes. Similar to how retired boxers could still show incredible head movement and could turn their bodies in a manner far younger men envied, Jia could see the same skill in Takeshi. The newcomer to Japan was incredibly curious to learn to use his new GT-R how Takeshi could. Every time Takeshi used the gear stick, the gas, or the brakes, resembled something that screamed experienced from what Jia could observe.

The RX-8 and S15 pulled over and the drivers got out.

"That Skyline really had some speed to it. I knew those were fast cars but the guy driving it really knew his stuff." The S15 driver sighed.

The Mazda driver kicked his tires angrily. "You were right man! It was Aizima! No wonder he looked so old!"

"We're such idiots..." The S15 driver's friend groaned. "And he drove so fast it was like we weren't even there."

"That guy is a real racer that's for sure." The S15 driver looked down the road the blue R34 blazed down.

Crickets sang in the trees by Akagi's hill.

Takeshi handed Jia a canned drink as they stopped by a small rest stop on Akagi. "Thanks." the boy looked at his mentor. "Is there any way I can learn to be that fast?"

"Hmf." Takeshi smiled and opened his own drink. "Yes, but it's going to take a lot of time. And a lot of practice. First, you gotta start getting used to how the car handles during a curve section, and during a straight. The transitions between are tough too. This takes years of training to be efficient. It wasn't until my second year of racing that I actually learned how to drift fast at all with my Impreza."

"Really?" Jia frowned.

"The downhill takes years of dedication to master. Those nitwits I passed are among the many who'll realize racing for the toughest drivers, and they'll probably quit like most dime a dozen racing fans." Takeshi patted his shoulder. "Cheer up. It could be a lot worse."

He threw his nose to the shiny blue BNR34. "You've got one hell of a car. Nothing around has that kind of grip or horsepower." he sipped his drink. "Not to mention. You got me training you, and you got your dad's racer genes, which might make you natural we'll see."

Jia looked at him. "How were you able to adapt so quickly to the GT-R?"

"Well the Impreza I used to race in was a lot lighter. Not to mention faster in my opinion." Takeshi slid a smirk at Jia. "And it had a lot less power as well. But it still was turbo and had all-wheel drive."

"Is that important?" Jia asked.

"Very. Almost as important as the curb weight. A Skyline isn't built for the mountain, it's built for a rally. However, with the right tuning." he held Jia's attention with his tone. "And training above all else. We can get it, and you, to be the right machine to tackle the downhill. See, FRs are gonna kick your ass for your first few races you have unless you're ready. Most are lighter, and they turn more efficiently from their drive trains."

Jia nodded as Takeshi explained. "During acceleration, AWD, like yours, transfers power to all four tires. FRs have an advantage as they only transfer power to the rear wheels, making controlled oversteer, in other words, drift, more efficient during high speeds. Also," Takeshi looked to the holo blue beast of power he just drifted in. "Your R34 is heavy as hell, I tore the shit out of your front tires while sliding."

Jia watched Takeshi drink some more of his canned coffee and continue. "Luckily, I can teach you how to grip too, as well as drift without shredding too bad. But at the end of the day, the Skyline's heavy frame puts you at a pretty big disadvantage when cornering. Even with tuning, cars like the FD and NSX are just gonna enter a corner faster than you unless you're the better driver."

Jia sniffed. "Okay."

"Because drift is gonna be necessary for really intense corners, like the ones you saw up here, and to drift with all-wheel drive takes almost superhuman reflexes and pedal control, you're going to be training with me around the clock. I'll talk to an old friend of mine to see if you can start practicing on rally tracks to give you good pedal control, and every night we'll hit the mountain."

Jia looked up at him as he stood up and threw away his canned drink. "Circuit tracks?"

"Yeah you won't be racing anyone else, at least for now, it'll just be for practice to help you turn and such," Takeshi said. "What do you think of making this your home course?"

Jia looked around it. "I like it. What do you think?"

"Well, the corners are pretty tight," Takeshi commented on the pass. "And the straights are wide enough and long enough to pass on and accelerate. Overall, it's a damn nice home course."

"Then I've made my choice. Akagi it is then." Jia raised his canned drink to his lips.

Takeshi scratched his beard. "Before I forget, we gotta get you a partner to train with. I remember this guy from Nagano, raced with my buddy David. Kaito mentioned him, name was Hinata Wakaru. His son would be around your age, he drives the red version of your car."

"How're they similar?" Jia wondered.

"They're identical pretty much. According to Kaito at least, and he's the one who tuned both of them. The only thing that's different apparently is the paint job." Takeshi looked at Jia and made eye contact. "Kid, the most important thing you have to remember is that there are a lot of people like me still around. People who moved on from racing."

"Moved on." Jia looked at the asphalt Takeshi tore up.

"Well, that was a damn kiddie fight, a real race implies a challenge. I mean that there are a lot of people who still have these cars and skills available. I know the most notable ones, some probably are gonna let their kids go nuts." Takeshi said. "Others not so much. Either way, people are gonna get interested in this shit again. Some drivers will get a lot of attention, some will rise to the top, and before long people are going to start asking the obvious question. Who's the fastest?"

"Okay and?"

Takeshi shook his head and kept speaking in a serious tone to Jia. "You're 18 kid. If you have even the smallest shred of your father's talent for racing in you, everyone, including yourself, is gonna wanna take this powerful ass car of yours and hit the hill to race." Takeshi tapped the hood of the BNR34. "But guess what, until I say you're ready, I want you to promise me not to race with anyone else except your partner down this hill or any other."

"Because I need to train in secret or something?" Jia bunched his eyebrows together.

"Because you'll die," Takeshi said flatly, Jia's heart dropping in his chest from how serious his tone became. "And I can't have that on my conscience. One night, Riku and Kaito were racing and bam!" Jia jumped from Takeshi's sudden rise in volume. "Kaito ate some guardrail. Luckily Riku rushed him to the hospital, where he met David who saved his life."

Jia watched Takeshi put his hands in his pockets. "I'm gonna tell you something really personal kid. Do you know why they called me the 'Bad Boy' of Kobushi? Why I raced so fast back in the day? Because I had nothing to lose. My dad kicked me out of the house when I was 19, I had nowhere else to go but stay in my friend's garage. Riku had a team of buddies who raced for fun, and I honestly didn't care if I died or not."

Jia frowned as he listened to Takeshi's words. "I hit the brakes before every corner with my pals because guess what? I had nothing to live for. No family, no girlfriend, nothing. You're new here so I'll let you in on a little secret. Japan is not the place you see in the cartoons. We are some of the most messed up people on the planet. Even our sub-cultures are screwed up."

Jia looked down at his lap as Takeshi got closer to him and raised a finger in front of his face. "I am not going to have your death be waved around by uprighteous pricks like Takahashi as a reason to bring stop the greatest revival of culture we've had in years. I am not going to let someone let the mountains replace meaning like it did for me. Let it be someone else if it has to. Jia."

Jia looked Takeshi right in the eyes as he said this. "I cannot have you die. This R34 of yours is twice as powerful as a regular drifter and much heavier. If you hit the guardrail at over 100km/h, I promise you, you're flying over the guardrail and you are not coming back."

Takeshi took a step back seeing Jia's face before sighing and sitting down next to him. "I'm sure your dad was a great driver. I'm sure he was a great man too. But if you're going to be a racer kid, you're going to be goddamn smart about it you hear?"

"Y-Yes." Jia took a deep breath and nodded to his teacher.

"You're going to learn how to drive fast on the track first. Where it's at least a bit safer. The mountain is not made for people without nerves of steel. It's made for people who legitimately have no fear of death or serious injury."

Jia processed this quietly for about a minute.

"So Jia, now that you've seen what the downhill is like up close, you still want to be a racer?" asked Takeshi.

Jia hurled his canned drink at the wall before it bounced into the trash can. He looked intently at Takeshi. "Damn right I do."

Takeshi chuckled and asked Jia. "What time is it?"

"Only 10 pm." he checked his phone.

Takeshi handed Jia the keys to the R34. "Let's head back. Tomorrow night we can go to Saitama, see if we can get you introduced to that red twin of yours."


End file.
